Special Artist Feature: AraabMuzik

The master of the MPC sat down with Ean for a few minutes after his set for a quick interview during last month’s I Love This City festival after an incredible performance. Triggering every single sound and sample live, AraabMuzik is one of the most versatile pad performers out there – check out what he has to say on how he plays live!

We didn’t end up getting as much in depth material on this piece as we normally do. For example, with Datsik a few weeks ago, but decided to still run this piece, as a showcase of some remarkable drumming talent.

For more info on AraabMuzik, we recommend checking out his official website. Special thanks once again to the folks behind I Love This City for allowing us to shoot onsite!

What artists would you like to see featured in a DJTT interview? Let us know and we’ll track them down!

Dont forget one of Aarab albums he just stole 12 songs from other people and drummed over them

Mad Science Productions

He has the right to have a big ego cuz hes the only one that can perform live music on the spot like he does!!!! In the DJ world thats what you do is talk s***. It only makes me want to be better than him, but also he is the one who inspired me, so i will take what i learned from him and make it better cuz that is what he is doin. Thats how the game works, all DJ’s know that!!!!!!

Caleb Roberson

I am a real percussionist (drummer) with way more credibility and respect than Jeremy Ellis and Araabmuzik. Jeremy Ellis is better and is more knowledgeable about what he is actually playing. He is a musician that actually knows his craft. As far as who makes better beats that could be left up to opinion. In terms of ability Jeremy Ellis is way ahead of Araabmuzik

loopcity

pls pls pls pls stop chopping excision and datsik and flux and playing that shit out when your music is better

biteme

so you don’t mess with the effects? you just use skrillex samples and crack fiend reflexes to produce? No wonder why you sound dull?

How is he dissing DJs or being cocky? Because he said he is making the music live and not just playing someone elses songs? lol, it’s true!!! Most djs just play the tracks. They don’t remix live or kut and scratch. I do but most djs don’t. Most djs end up standing in the booth staring at a laptop and blending the next track in. So why are so many of you gettin butt hurt because he told the truth? When DJs start making all the music live THEN you can dog on him. But he didn’t say anything wrong. He was soft spoken and relaxed. He wasn’t loud or talking like “yea I’m tha ish”. He just spoke on what he does. Man there are soooo many hater on DJTT you should change the name to haterzcentral. Come DJTT, get rid of these lames. This isn’t what music is about.

DJTT you should just take this down. All these “djs” are screaming about Jeremy Ellis and who is better and blah blah blah. Real musicians know that art comes in many forms. Jazz, hiphop, reggae, electro, whatever. As such….Jeremy Ellis vs Araab is like comparing a porsche 911 to a Lincoln navigator. 2 totally different cars but they fit different people. Doesn’t mean either car is better, it just means they were made to appeal to different people and styles. Respectively Jeremy and Araab are both monster performers. Great musicality and well structured routines. The people here that are simply hating on the guy because he is cocky, should just look at the facts. He’s talented. Period. Otherwise he wouldn’t be getting paid more money than anyone on this page could imagine. Guy wears $260,000 on his wrist. People are raised differently. Some come from NY where everyone is loud and has an attitude. Some come from Tennesse where the talk slower and are real laid back. Can’t knock the guy for where he grew up and how he was raised. Jeremy Ellis obviously didn’t grow up in Southside Atlanta. So that makes him a better musician? No. Is Araab Cocky? Yea. Crappy artist? No. But fact still remains…he’s in the video and we are all watching. So instead of downing someone doing better than you, how about doing something to make yourself better.

I’d like to see you interview Joe Hahn of Linkin Park. He has a Midi Fighter 3D integrated into his setup and the evolution of his setup was pretty interesting to watch over the years (From his Turntable Set up and his wall of Trigger Fingers > Korg Nano Pads & Lemur > Midifighter 3D & Lemur

Dragon Details

nice, You guys should track down j-rabbit :) he’s been one of my favorites

Anonymous

Spend your time Creating , not Hating.
Much Success To AraabMuzik … And The Haters too

When you have talent, especially at a young age, and you are getting paid ridiculous money for it….ego will grow. Get off the guys dick. If it was crap and so easy, then he wouldn’t have a job or you would be doing it too. He has skill regardless. And just because he is doing hiphop doesnt mean he can’t do other things. Try listening to his other beats instead of knocking him. Nobody slams on djs for playing other people’s music or for using an mpc during shows. So why do it to him? Music can be made a million ways, this is his.

Let me clear the air a bit since I think Aarab may have come off a little arrogant in this interview. (I know from personal experience, he’s actually a pretty humble kid)

AarabMusic is primarily a producer. He has produced many dope tracks for rappers and was actually signed to a contract with the Diplomats. Im not sure if he still is. I doubt Dip Set would sign a kid who “disrepsects DJs”, so I dont think he meant that comment about “DJs just playing records” to sound bad. Especially since theyve worked with people like Just Blaze, Kanye, etc.

Hes still a kid. Aarab is still a youngster. In the music industry, if your a hip hop artist/producer/dj, label A & R execs dont give you any type of media coaching whatsoever. Labels stopped spending money on media training for hip hop artists as soon as hip hop started becoming a viable means of income. If you watch interviews of Snoop Dogg from the ’90s, he RARELY makes eye contact with the interviewer or camera.

When you take a person from a rough neighborhood, hand them a bunch of money, and shove a camera in their face, you cant expect to see some Larry King type of interview. I dont think its a bad thing or a good thing. Its just the result of putting a person in an environment that isnt familiar to them. A persons “on camera” personality isnt something you can buy from a store. Its cultivated and matured over time. Some people hire coaches to teach them how to speak clearly and make eye contact with the interviewer/camera. Some dont.

As I said earlier, Aarab is still a kid who got his big break. I dont see why people are taking this interview so seriously. Hes just a hip hop kid who has a gift. He never plays prerecorded music. All of his sets are live and organic with original patterns and sounds. I dont know many performers that can say that these days. He still enters beat battles in the U.S. even though he already has enough money and recognition to never battle anyone.

This is “DJ TechTools”. Not “Lets discuss this DJ’s personality”.
If that were the case, Im willing to be money that many of our “favorite” djs, artists, producers probably arent the nicest people in the world any way. Either way, I dont care.

I dont come to this blog to talk about the emotional intricacies of Djs. Im here because I want to learn, share, create positivity and use my music as the medium :)

We gotta quit taking ourselves too seriously. Its just music. So let it be just that. Music.

Treds

Things you can learn about how AraabMuzik plays from this video…
1. He turns the MPC on and goes, uses three of them and really doesn’t mess with the knobs or effects.
2. His bottom row of pads consists of his drums, kicks, snares, and high hats, from there he just keeps playing.
3. Searches for new stuff to put in his sets daily, tries to make sure no set is the exact same.
4. Used to mix hip hop into his sets, but now just keeps it “intense”
5. Had to work for a long time until he was able to play long sets and keep using the pads.
I agree theres not alot of great information about how he plays here, but don’t point the finger at DJTT. As Ean has mentioned, he tried to get better information out of him but it was to no avail. Thanks for the video and everything else DJTT and I hope you keep this series going.

Not bad interview. didnt tell me much other then he uses MPC’s. For a future artist i think you guys should interview Disclosure (http://soundcloud.com/disclosuremusic) as these boys are blowing up over here in the UK

Info

everything about this interview sucks, no back story no insight about what/how he uses and the way he starts or what is behind his entire “show” fuck araabmuzik for down playing the dj’s, where do you think the basis of his performance comes from….

Calkutta

not only an ego maniac,but if he has to turn one mpc off to load another bank…man should read the manual….everything he did here could be done with one mpc…wack and lazy and sloppy…thumbs down.

What he does is quite impressive…. it’s just that musicwise it’s crap.
It’s just like the quitarists in the 80’s who always wanted to play solo’s quicker and quicker. More notes per minute!
The only problem was – it became less musical because of it.

The ‘tude…. well – he’s a young guy who’s in the height of his succes. What do you expect? But like the Steve Vai’s / Yngwie Malmsteen’s of this world – in 3 years no one will remember your name…. and the ‘tude you express now is the way people will act towards you then….

Bet he’s loving this feedback… he might be on his way round to gangster all over your ass..!

dant

Very talented at being a prick…. anyone can bash button like that mate especially when its all quantised.. get a grip and stop trying to be gangster…. what a fool..!

Dan

Very talented prick..!

Eyomuntu

“..DTT is a very infomative website when it comes to focusing on Dj business, good and/or bad. Lesson from this vid>>>talent has nothing to do with character..at all.”

Mrkanan2009

I don’t know why most of you take his comments to the heart. It’s damn true, hitting drum pads and coming up with tunes in the fly is a lot harder than your typical dj work. I did not think he was cocky one bit, I thought he was being honest when asked the question.

Disanorcracer

what a doucheeeeee that was a terrible interview!!!!!!! not dj tech tools fault just araab.

This dude has got to be the least interesting person DJ TT has ever interviewed lol. I didn’t even make it through the whole video. Not sure if its because he never lifts his head and talks to the floor, keeps saying he’s got a “god-given” talent… but then again it was a short video, he might be a cooler in person with a longer chance to meet him.

DJBorealis

whoa, dude hes on a DJ website and he disses every dj that actually mixes and works hard. douchebag alert!

JamieD

I opened a show for him and Zeds Dead with Omar Linx. Met him, talked to him, he & Zeds Dead hung out for the after party so people could talk to them and he’s not a egotistical jerk like most people are saying. He’s more of a quiet guys that is getting a bunch of attention for what he does. I see that often a shy person is mistaken for a cocky person by people that don’t really know them. All in all the dude is still talented, whether you like his music or not.

a technically dumb but talented artist who produces good music is always better than a technically adept geek that is good in hitting pads and produce bad music.

Maxflugelman

legend says, he fingered his girlfriend.

ONCE.

Noelflava

I did not see much ego there. If anything he is probably a bit shy. I think people have a hard time reading folks sometimes but Araab seems pretty straight forward and cool to me. Thats my 2 cents on this interview which I quite enjoyed. Thanks Ean, Dan, and the DJTT crew for making this Peace.

will

That was the MOST un-revealing interview ever. He needs to learn about the merits of publicity and public relations.

Nanofox

You get what you ask for! If you read the comments on the last how I play interview someone wanted to see Araab Muzik and here he is! I like the talent not the man behind it.
Think about it Jeremy Ellis = yoda | Araab Muzik = vader! Do you think vader is going to tell you how to harness the dark side? Hell no! What artist actually gives up all the secrets! Why would he do such a thing in prime? Think about this it’s not what he uses that makes him talented it’s his style and how he expresses himself with the technology! Read through the attitude and that’s the lesson learned!

Upbeaentertainmentny

yah dude needs to get over himself.. he can drum… gratz. i love how at the begining he says he doesnt need to practice all day because hes naturally gifted like that, then goes on to say that its like track or working out, the more you do it , the better you get and can go longer. he wont look into the camera because he doesnt anyone to be destroyed by his immortal gaze….

i respect and enjoy what he does on stage, but id hold him in much higher regard if he was cool, like say DJ Craze… thers a man with some serious skill, not just pressing buttons, and hes cool as fuck.

You’re all on a DJing website, so you know its not all technicality. Yeah Araab has a huge ego, but he also has a huge presence on stage, and gets shit wild. You’re a strange dude if you get as pumped when Jeremy Ellis plays his stuff or Moldover does his little pirouette behind his controller, those dudes have everything but the presence of Araab, and that’s why they’re inferior in terms of success. Stop hating on him for being some guy who just remixes shit and famous for it. Most of you do it all the time and will happily take a compliment for it. He does a good job you idiots.

DJ ForcedHand

Why does this remark sound a lot like “LEAVE BRITTANY ALONE!” (with all the crying)? I believe Araab was informed that he was being interviewed for a DJ Community website and that means that he should get that he’s speaking to peers, not fans and should have acted as such. To be clear, I don’t think anyone is hating on his abilities, they’re hating on how insecurely pedestrian he sounds (like a gangsta’ pumping himself up to sound like he’s more than he is). None of the people I work with in the industry say how what they’re doing is (intrinsically) superior to what other people do and they’re humble because they’re 1) Cool with who they are and what they’re doing 2) They know that being a pompous jerk just irritates people, makes them not like you and not want to work with you.

my cock

samuel apart from your creative way to write down your name you are what us in the hood call a “DICK RIDA” so Stfu

Would love to see you do something like this w/ Joris Voorn. Saw him play recently using an Audio10, Kontrol F1, and a Xone K2.

Manou

I would like to see Chris Liebing!!!!

BLKSMTH

I love how everyone who tries to defend this tool uses the same video.

Love Rocket

“love Hip Hop grew up on hip hop. Sold my soul for the dubstep fad.”

Mackie

this guys a complete tool

DJ ForcedHand

While I find what AraabMuzik does is impressive, I felt a little let down on both sides of this interview. To me, this felt like a “street style” commercial for AraabMuzik. I get that he’s playing the MPC-2500 like a sample-drum but I agree with most of the other commenters, there’s very little “how I play” information in the interview. Also, the gentleman being interviewed hides his eyes from the camera a lot and does berate other performers saying he’s “…I’m actually doing all that live on the spot, versus the DJ just playing the record…” How is this at all insightful, constructive or even accurate? The “versus the DJ just playing the record…” part should have been edited out.

Does AraabMuzik think that DJs or other Controllerists are somehow goofing-off between transitions? Based on that comment alone, I would not choose to see him play because no one likes a conceited jerk.

Perhaps it’s time that DJ Tech Tools hire a professional interviewer or reporter to drive the conversation in some meaningful direction (and maybe require more of the editor). This is a premier DJ community website, right?

Sirch1

I feel what you’re saying .. but i find this interview inspirational because as a hip hop dj at heart … i look to bring an mpc or machine into my performance in the future. i didn’t feel like he came off like a snob.. maybe he’s just shy. many artists are like this.

I personally conducted this interview and we asked a lot of what I would consider “good questions” – sometimes people just don’t answer them in meaningful ways and then we end up with very little material to work with.

If you have suggestions for someone that would have been better suited to guide this interview then please make them.

Justsomeguy

Ean, I don’t think that there was anything you could have done to make it a better interview. The guy is a jerk in every sense of the term and really only has a fanbase for helping produce mediocre music for other artists.

I’m actually surprised he took time out of his uber-important and busy schedule to talk with you, seeing as how he sits on his iphone while he’s on stage and other people are performing.

Guestman

Yea this guy is a dick. I will never EVER see him live.

Macdigibeats

I’m not knockin Araab, but just triggering other people’s beats and performing drum loops over them is hardly “playing everything live”

Guestman

I agree. I will never see this guy play live. Moving your hands fast on an MPC does not make you a musician. More like a frustrated drummer. You just know how to press buttons. Not to mention you are chopping already produced tracks with an MPC with the worst attitude possible. He doesn’t even give him self the opportunity to feel the music, its all memory and very robotic for me. Thinking you are better than DJ’s for pressing buttons is wrong, let alone puting us down publically trying to make a statement that honestly means nothing. You make it up on the fly? I dont think so, try hours and hours of MPC programming and trigger mapping your gear to samples of other music. If you make that statement then I would like to see you do a set where you create and manipulate all the sounds, drums and instruments to create music on the fly. So dont talk shit about DJ’s… Cocky boy, you wont get far this way. Be humble, love music and bring people together to express your self. Not to the camera which you falied to pay respect to your audience by hiding under your hat. Like you didnt care. And for the interview to be called “How I Play” showed me exactly how you played. A bad attitude robotic statue that presses buttons and has no concept or experience of mixing what so ever. I see your talent and have respect for being up there doing your thing, just do it right.

For the rest of us, lets continue to mix and have fun with it.

Djo1006

The biggest thing to stand out for me during that interview was the whole “unlike a dj playing a record for an hour” comment. That speaks volumes about how he views other performers or ENTERTAINERS. He is talented but he’s not the first! Maybe we should all view ourselves as part of the evolution of music, as opposed to “I’m really good at this so you suck at that.” Show some respect AraabMuzik!

DJT3chron

some of you guys are bitches!!

BLKSMTH

Take the D out of your mouth before you start spitting nonsense.

dude

Im glad Araab likes himself so much because i dont see anyone else…

…navi

id love to see this series a little bit longer, 3min is just to short

RockingClub

Apart from the arrogance debate… Is it only me thinking the interview could have been a bit more useful in terms of “learning from the pro”?

DJ ForcedHand

Most of what Mr. Araab says is completely useless like: “It’s not like I practice all day everyday, in my house. I just turn my MPC on and I just go.” Although he does make reference to the fact that he started out as a drummer and he did practice a lot on the past, that part is in passing. I think the point of the interview was missed when Mr. Araab was interviewed. About the only piece that was relevant was the fact that he says “I don’t mess with the knobs or anything like that, like the effects and stuff, I just (backhand slap to other hand) play it.”

I guess that’s pretty much all we’re going to get from these kinds of videos because I seriously doubt the pros want to give away their secrets and it doesn’t seem like there’s much to get out of what these pros want to give.

pdillo

the doods a thug, he was the producer for dipset, hes from the east coast… geez guys

BLKSMTH

Does it mean he has to act like a prima donna? No. Who cares who he produced for. Dipset was and will always be wack and he clearly doesn’t care about anything but himself and the money he makes from selling his soul.

Eric Szakacs

Man, the more I hear this guy talk the more I dislike him. I would love to find out that he’s just pretending to drum over a recording… Milli Vanilli style.

Zeldaleft

Why would you conduct this interview w/o finding out how he programs his mpcs? how does he deal with sidechaining? where does he get/make his samples? Whats his theory behind buildups/breakdowns? I’m super dissappointed in this interview….having ‘artist spotlight’ videos like this is a total waste of everyones time. :(

We asked a LOT of detailed questions about his setup and just didn’t get any detailed answers that were worth including in the video. Some artists give us a lot of material to work with and some don’t want to go into detail.

Alvin

So don’t publish these hacks then? The title of the article was “How I Play”, I can watch a video on youtube and figure out that he smashes buttons on an MPC, don’t need DJTT to figure that out. Is it too much to ask that we learn something new after watching a 3.5 minute video?

Zeldaleft

For real. I’m sure you guys tried, but don’t give the dude free promotion if he isn’t gonna give you anything worth a damn. There are plenty of sites for artist promo vids. And for the record, changing this article to a “Special Artist Feature” doesn’t get you off the hook for weak content. With all that said, I really love your site and appreciate your work. I wouldn’t have voiced my opinion if the drop in quality hadn’t come as such a suprise.

Treds

Till you come up with another site that helps people as much as this one…yes, it is too much to ask. Don’t be ungrateful. Read the note directly under the video and realize that Ean and DJTT tried to get the info that everyone wants to hear, but didn’t because this guy didn’t want to share. Ean, thanks for the video, the site, the deals, and everything else you do.

This brings up the following question. If a video is only 50% up to par but contains some interesting content – should we never publish it. Then people will never see the 50%. Publishing articles does not really hurt anyone so I believe if a video contains some interesting content then it cant hurt..

ean – don’t listen to the haters. even if the artist doesn’t tell you every little detail about their secret sauce, that doesn’t make the video a waste of time. sometimes it’s cool to see how other people play, even if you can’t get every single detail – these videos aren’t meant to be tutorials, and I think a lot of people who read DJTT are spoiled in thinking every article/video they read should have an immediate and direct effect on their play. don’t start scrapping videos just because angry people are more likely to post comments than happy people. give me that 50%.

charms

Its not about the how, its about the why. The way he programs and configures his sets is unique to himself, and nobody else.

dj_calvin

Yes, he is the master of MPC for those doubters. You should watch this first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmEhCDRvQKA

Oh c’me on! It’s not like you didn’t have it coming. :p
Just kidding. He’d really better stay behind his controllers and STFU. Certainly not the only great instrumentalist who should not be allowed to speak without supervision. I guess he and Gene Simmons would make great friends…

Does he not have a face? I have seen him interviewed before and he didn’t have a hat pulled over his face. Was he high or something? Regardless manners don’t cost a thing so he could do with loosing the rude boy attitude and as impressive as live drumming on an mpc for 40 minutes is, his track selection of Brostep is awful. I would like to see someone like tokimonsta or daedalus interviewed, I would like to know more about their live set ups as Ableton is still fairly new to me.

Glad I’m not the only one who thought he came across a tad bit arrogant, I’ve been lucky enough to chat to far bigger stars than this guy could ever be and and they were nothing but humble and engaging. We’re all different I guess but being likeable, or at least attempting to be likeable especially when being interviewed in this easy access age is very important, but then again I suppose there’s no point faking it.

As for true kings of the pads, Jeremy and Araab are clearly epic talents, but for me David fingers Hayes will always be the the original god father, the guy takes finger drumming to where no other can follow rather than just being a show pony

Hater-spotter

You sound like a hater

em

LOL @ the name “Hater-spotter”. But he does have a valid point with regard to David Haynes.

I don’t know why people always show this video when they are comparing jeremy ellis and araabmusik. All of jeremy ellis’ stuff is better that that video.

Keian

Why? Because it will take (2) two Jeremy Ellis to do a 1000bpm keypad roll lol

J-fer

problem with jeremy ellis is not his technical talent, but lack of musicality and rhythm in his productions. anybody can hit a drum set, and make noise. only a few can make music. that’s what differentiates musicians from geeks.

Justsomeguy

First, I just want to point out that you have absolutely no clue what musicality is if you think that Jeremy Ellis possesses none.

What the hell would he be typing? Kick kick, drum, drum, snare snare snare, hihat hihat, kick kick kick kick kick. Perhaps a bit tacky to say since this isn’t my music style (at all), but this sound like a five years old child who can press-play. Anyway, nice pun.

Yigit

When I first watched this video, I was really impressed. Now that I’ve watched this interview, my impression went down below zero. I have no respect for this douche anymore. If he can look down on fellow DJs just because he can push buttons fast enough in time, I wonder what Joey Jordison would have to say about this guy.

Jeremy Ellis is very technical, but so is Moldover. They both lack a serious following despite their skill, simply because they have no idea how to connect, and to be honest, their own production is shit. Moldover especially.

jeremy is a geek not a real musician. araab produces music for busta rhymes, janet jackson, etc. sure ellis is technical, but he lacks musicality. and for “real” musician that is so important rather than hitting 1000 pads without any rhythm.

Sirch1

you should REALLY … do some research before you say someone isn’t a real musician. you sound like a moron. really, go learn some more before you say dumb things.

You’ve probably never seen Jeremy Ellis play the pads, the keys AND sing at the same time. You have no idea what you’re talking about.

Nickwright

As a producer and a dj; regardless, how technically adept you are or regardless if you have the best equipment money can buy… if your music sucks, it will always stay that way. but, if you have an ear for good music regardless how technically dumb you are, you will still produce good music.

Nickwright

this comparison between araab and ellis is such a dud. Talent is what gets you to the top, good attitude does not.
araab produces music and rhythms for top artists. and, ellis? produces for?…. uh what?
a technically dumb but talented artist who produces good music is always better than a technically adept geek that is good in hitting pads and produce bad music.

Danomas

I don’t get why he’s a douche? Because he said some shit about DJs? So what.

Justsomeguy

He’s a douche because he gives no respect to those that came before him and thinks that no one can ever be better than him.

Not to mention he claims to be the first to ever use an MPC the way he does and anyone that uses one is just copying him.

Jeremy Ellis is better because not only is he a better musically from a technical standpoint, he also has a likable personality and is an entertainer above all else.

Anonymous

JEREMY ELLIS? Out of here… Likable personality has nothing to do with who can work the MPC live best. Yes, Araab came off in the interview but hey, we are all not built the same. I’ve seen a lot of artists I like and follow give shitty interviews, but in no way that diminish their skills and talent.
And by the way, Araab works daily with tons of DJs, from Enuff to Flexx and beyond. I can guarantee that he just spoke too fast and didn’t naturally mean to diss DJs in general.
Listen, Ellis is good at what he does and he has my respect. However, you put him in a room with Araab to put on a show, he stands no chance; Likable or not, he is no match, that’s my opinion..

Not a AraabMuzik fan here, not into that genre(for the most part) but do have a link to vid or interview(audio) where he actually “claims to be the first to ever use an MPC the way he does and anyone that uses one is just copying him.”
Don’t link articles, I could write some shit about someone on my blog, doesn’t necessarily make it true.

Willba

uhhhm its [DJ] tech tools and all us djs are going to be watching it. Its like going in the hood with a kkk uniform on, he is clearly arrogant and what for. There are far better performers like Jeremy Ellis for example.

Thats like comparing Jazz singer to a rapper. 2 different styles and genres. This kid makes bookoo money making beats for famous artists. Jeremy is awesome but he’s in a different class of music. Respectively, they are both amazing. Some people are raised differently. He comes from NY where EVERYONE is cocky and loud. That’s his personality. His skills aren’t diminished by that. He still makes a crapload of money doing what he loves and who is going to say otherwise? So what he is cocky. Everyone in this world is cocky at something. If not, then they just suck at everything. It’s called style or flavor or attitude. This dude bangs out rap music. Why would he smile and act like he’s Martha Stewart?